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PLEASE PASS THIS TO YOUR FRIENDS--LET THEM KNOW MORE ABOUT POLITICS AND PUBLIC POLICY THE FORMER MAINSTREAM MEDIA WON'T TELL. THANKS
1. The Municipal Debt Bubble, As cities and states boost their debts by 800 percent, a housing-like crisis looms. byVeronique de Rugy from the January 2011 issue of Reason Magazine
California is not the only State with financial problems. Most have been over spending and counting the Feds to bail them out. That is not going to happen again--the /Feds are bankrupt.
"Municipal bonds are perceived as safe investments because, like U.S. Treasury bonds, they are backed by the full faith, credit, and taxing powers of the issuing governments. Investors know that states and localities can always raid taxpayer wallets to pay off their debts.
But in the last two years tax and fee hikes have faced greater public opposition. Last year, for example, Jefferson County, Alabama, was unable to raise sewer fees to meet its sewer bond obligation. Since governments are generally unwilling to cut spending either, the result of resistance to new revenue raising has been substantial increases in states’ and cities’ debt levels. Detroit and Los Angeles have announced that they may have to declare bankruptcy, as have a number of smaller cities.
Usually, as a borrower becomes a riskier prospect, lenders start pulling away. At the very least, worried about the prospect of losing their investment to default, they don’t increase the amount they lend."
2. December 16, 1773 The Tea Party Was Born in Boston Harbor, Yid With A Lid, 12/16/10
The Tea Parties of 2009-10 were born in Tea Parties 237 years ago. And for the same cause--government out of control, demanding taxes and control of people's lives. We won the battle in 1773--the battle took a few years, just as the Tea Parties of this era will take a few years for complete victory. November 2 was only the first fight..
"Two-hundred and thirty-seven years ago today a team of colonists wearing Indian Costumes went on to ships docked in Boston Harbor to show the British that they were sick and tired of oppressive taxes. Two-hundred and thirty-five years later the colonies were now a country, and Americans picked up the mantle of those brave colonists to once again protest oppressive taxation.
We tell the story of the original tea party not only as a tribute but because many of us owe our reborn political involvement to that original group of tax protesters."
We will win this battle as well.
3. House GOP leader open to impeaching (Iowa) Supreme Court Justices By Jason Hancock, American Justice, 12.16.10
In Iowa they take their votes seriously., They take marriage seriously and they take judges who use their personal views to decide cases, very seriously. A while ago the seven Iowa Justices overturned the vote of the people in a ballot measure that restated that in Iowa marriage was only between a man and a women. Guess the judges had no problem with marriage between anyone and anything. So, the voters in Novembers voted out the three judges that were on the ballot. Now, the other four could be impeached for violating their oath of office.
"If the people of Iowa demand that the remaining four justices on the state Supreme Court be impeached, Speaker-elect Kraig Paulsen (R-Hiawatha) said Wednesday he would not stand in the way.
Last month, Iowans voted to oust three state Supreme Court justices who were up for a retention vote due to the 2009 ruling that legalized same-sex marriage. The other four justices were not on the ballot.
During an interview with Christian radio host Steve Deace, Paulsen said the lesson of the judicial retention election is that Iowans want a voice in the definition of marriage, and also that they expect the legislature “to live up to its constitutional responsibility and ensure we’re not rolling over any time the courts want to boss us around.” But just because Iowans decided to remove the judges doesn’t necessarily mean they want the legislature to step in and remove the rest."
4. 99ers ‘about to be dropped off a cliff’, By Ed Brayton, American Independent, 12.16.10
Obama is really confusing, but I think we have it correct now. The proposed expansion of the unemployment payments for 13 months for those looking for work is still ONLY for 99 weeks--then those unemployed stop receiving checks. And they stop being counted as unemployed.
"OpenCongress reports:
I’ve been trying to make the point that the 99er problem — people exhausting all unemployment benefits without finding a job — is about to get much worse because we’re approaching 99 weeks from the brunt of the recession unemployment spike. Congress is not planning to add more weeks of unemployment benefits and the Federal Reserve is projecting the unemployment rate to stay pretty much where it is for the next year. Putting it all together, this means that for the foreseeable future, there will no jobs and no government support for the millions of 99ers…
Adding insult to injury, 99ers are not even tracked by the government. The way the employment statistics system works, when people go off of unemployment, they are not considered part of the work force and not factored into the numbers for employed or unemployed. This is why we have no firm number of 99ers, and why it’s so easy for policymakers to ignore this crisis."
5. Big Brother Is Watching You Recycle, Wendy McElroy, The Freeman, 12/01/10
In Cleveland, and soon in a trash bin in your garage, the government is merely a computer chip away. Now Big Brother has decided to make sure you are recycling--use a government approved trash bin, or else, and they will be able to determine if you are a good Soviet, ur, citizen.
"Citing the British model, Cleveland, Ohio, is taking a giant step toward a similar scheme of compulsory recycling. In 2011 some 25,000 households will be required to use recycling bins fitted with radio-frequency identification tags (RFIDs)—tiny computer chips that can remotely provide information such as the weight of the bin’s contents and that allow passing garbage trucks to verify their presence. If a household does not put its recycle bin out on the curb, an inspector could check its garbage for improperly discarded recyclables and fine the scofflaws $100. Moreover, if a bin is put out in a tardy manner or left out too long, the household could be fined. Cleveland plans to implement the system citywide within six years.
Extreme recycling programs are nothing new, even in American cities. In San Francisco recycling and composting are mandatory; trash is sorted into three different bins with compliance enforced through fines. New York City has a similar program."
More...
1. The Municipal Debt Bubble, As cities and states boost their debts by 800 percent, a housing-like crisis looms. byVeronique de Rugy from the January 2011 issue of Reason Magazine
California is not the only State with financial problems. Most have been over spending and counting the Feds to bail them out. That is not going to happen again--the /Feds are bankrupt.
"Municipal bonds are perceived as safe investments because, like U.S. Treasury bonds, they are backed by the full faith, credit, and taxing powers of the issuing governments. Investors know that states and localities can always raid taxpayer wallets to pay off their debts.
But in the last two years tax and fee hikes have faced greater public opposition. Last year, for example, Jefferson County, Alabama, was unable to raise sewer fees to meet its sewer bond obligation. Since governments are generally unwilling to cut spending either, the result of resistance to new revenue raising has been substantial increases in states’ and cities’ debt levels. Detroit and Los Angeles have announced that they may have to declare bankruptcy, as have a number of smaller cities.
Usually, as a borrower becomes a riskier prospect, lenders start pulling away. At the very least, worried about the prospect of losing their investment to default, they don’t increase the amount they lend."
2. December 16, 1773 The Tea Party Was Born in Boston Harbor, Yid With A Lid, 12/16/10
The Tea Parties of 2009-10 were born in Tea Parties 237 years ago. And for the same cause--government out of control, demanding taxes and control of people's lives. We won the battle in 1773--the battle took a few years, just as the Tea Parties of this era will take a few years for complete victory. November 2 was only the first fight..
"Two-hundred and thirty-seven years ago today a team of colonists wearing Indian Costumes went on to ships docked in Boston Harbor to show the British that they were sick and tired of oppressive taxes. Two-hundred and thirty-five years later the colonies were now a country, and Americans picked up the mantle of those brave colonists to once again protest oppressive taxation.
We tell the story of the original tea party not only as a tribute but because many of us owe our reborn political involvement to that original group of tax protesters."
We will win this battle as well.
3. House GOP leader open to impeaching (Iowa) Supreme Court Justices By Jason Hancock, American Justice, 12.16.10
In Iowa they take their votes seriously., They take marriage seriously and they take judges who use their personal views to decide cases, very seriously. A while ago the seven Iowa Justices overturned the vote of the people in a ballot measure that restated that in Iowa marriage was only between a man and a women. Guess the judges had no problem with marriage between anyone and anything. So, the voters in Novembers voted out the three judges that were on the ballot. Now, the other four could be impeached for violating their oath of office.
"If the people of Iowa demand that the remaining four justices on the state Supreme Court be impeached, Speaker-elect Kraig Paulsen (R-Hiawatha) said Wednesday he would not stand in the way.
Last month, Iowans voted to oust three state Supreme Court justices who were up for a retention vote due to the 2009 ruling that legalized same-sex marriage. The other four justices were not on the ballot.
During an interview with Christian radio host Steve Deace, Paulsen said the lesson of the judicial retention election is that Iowans want a voice in the definition of marriage, and also that they expect the legislature “to live up to its constitutional responsibility and ensure we’re not rolling over any time the courts want to boss us around.” But just because Iowans decided to remove the judges doesn’t necessarily mean they want the legislature to step in and remove the rest."
4. 99ers ‘about to be dropped off a cliff’, By Ed Brayton, American Independent, 12.16.10
Obama is really confusing, but I think we have it correct now. The proposed expansion of the unemployment payments for 13 months for those looking for work is still ONLY for 99 weeks--then those unemployed stop receiving checks. And they stop being counted as unemployed.
"OpenCongress reports:
I’ve been trying to make the point that the 99er problem — people exhausting all unemployment benefits without finding a job — is about to get much worse because we’re approaching 99 weeks from the brunt of the recession unemployment spike. Congress is not planning to add more weeks of unemployment benefits and the Federal Reserve is projecting the unemployment rate to stay pretty much where it is for the next year. Putting it all together, this means that for the foreseeable future, there will no jobs and no government support for the millions of 99ers…
Adding insult to injury, 99ers are not even tracked by the government. The way the employment statistics system works, when people go off of unemployment, they are not considered part of the work force and not factored into the numbers for employed or unemployed. This is why we have no firm number of 99ers, and why it’s so easy for policymakers to ignore this crisis."
5. Big Brother Is Watching You Recycle, Wendy McElroy, The Freeman, 12/01/10
In Cleveland, and soon in a trash bin in your garage, the government is merely a computer chip away. Now Big Brother has decided to make sure you are recycling--use a government approved trash bin, or else, and they will be able to determine if you are a good Soviet, ur, citizen.
"Citing the British model, Cleveland, Ohio, is taking a giant step toward a similar scheme of compulsory recycling. In 2011 some 25,000 households will be required to use recycling bins fitted with radio-frequency identification tags (RFIDs)—tiny computer chips that can remotely provide information such as the weight of the bin’s contents and that allow passing garbage trucks to verify their presence. If a household does not put its recycle bin out on the curb, an inspector could check its garbage for improperly discarded recyclables and fine the scofflaws $100. Moreover, if a bin is put out in a tardy manner or left out too long, the household could be fined. Cleveland plans to implement the system citywide within six years.
Extreme recycling programs are nothing new, even in American cities. In San Francisco recycling and composting are mandatory; trash is sorted into three different bins with compliance enforced through fines. New York City has a similar program."
More...